JRE

I have always thought there are many organizations that cross tribal boundaries that allow Praxians of different tribes to work together. Each one has different aims and enemies, and I am sure the unified betrayal of the Pure Horse Tribe after their decimation by the troll army was engineered by one of those secret societies, probably one specialized in keeping Pentans out, repurposed against the PHT, in a similar way the White bollocks are repurposed by Argrath. They are secret when seen from outside the tribes, but the tribes know and tolerate them. I would expect the number of White Bull members decreases with the attrition of war and having the best and brightest all the time in Dragon Pass. That may well be a cause for Chaos making a strong return in the Wastes, as the society is no longer doing its job... It may well be linked with the appearance of the Eye of Wakboth and the associated troubles, combined with the resurgent Pentan menace in the North East, and allowing other societies to become more important. Argrath, no matter what we may think of him, has shown a strong personal charisma, which means many people who are circunstantial allies become personally devoted to him. I assume that happens also to the core membership of the society that moves to Sartar and becomes part of the New Sartar Army. At this point I expect there will be a growing disconnect between the Society and the tribes, till something new takes its place in Prax.

As in so many things in Glorantha, I would play that the expectations shape the event if everything goes the right way. If the cult / worshippers / PCs expect the spirit to be replaced by one straight from Yelm's court, that will happen. If they expect Storm Bull to instill a tiny fraction of its power on their loyal bison and awaken it, that will be it. If something goes wrong, however, that is when the GM has to earn their keep and propose something unexpected (and ideally fun, but that is difficult, so I settle for unexpected and hope for the best).

Peloria has been at peace for over 150 years, and in the Celestial Empire period the nomad overlords surely discouraged walls around villages. So I would expect Pelorian villages to lack traditional defensive structures, unlike most orlanthi clans. There is no internecine raiding as with the orlanthi, and the Pelorian tradition is acceptance of oppressive overlords and passive resistance. Active resistance is rare. Which is why they adapt to Solar, Carmanian, nomad or Lunar overlords while remaining more or less the same.

The impression I got from the GtG fragment of his book is that his pride limits the people he considers worthy of his interest. But I also got the impression he accepts invitations and will be an uncommon guest of both Prince Argrath and Phargentes, as he clearly knew him well before he became the Mask of Moonson. He respects but mistrusts them. I suspect he also has a good relationship with Fazzur, and his children. It would make sense as they are his closest civilized neighbours (according to his biased opinion).

I initially considered that yes, dwarves should be bred to their caste, and I would expect bigger size and strength in Iron, higher INT for Silver and high CHA for Gold. But then I remembered how mostali are made, and assuming the dwarves ape the nine containers, I would expect that for Decamony loyalists each version of the clay jar is associated to one of the original nine containers and is used when you need dwarves of that caste, though without the shaping ability of the metals, the end result is the same for all and they all share the same base stats. All dwarves are refined in the Clay Jar, from a protonodule crafted with (apparently work and suffering by two dwarves (not necessarily of that same caste). I assume the quality of the protonodule and its size will determine the stats of the dwarf. Nida will be rigid in the caste allocation, so if you came from a work order for a lead caste, lead caste you are, even if you are freakishly large and suffer claustrophobia. You can have dumb silvers, diminute irons and tonguetied golds. It is less likely that Player characters will meet non-archetypical dwarves except when visiting dwarfholds, however, and the referees should keep that in mind, but once in a while it can be great fun. I would not have the body modifications shown in the Guide illustrations as a birth trait, but more like body replacement by the dwarves themselves or the silver magicians, to be better at their job. Individualists, as part of their heresy, and a possible reason for the persistence of such heresy, use common clay jars but perform a series of tests to decide what will be the best caste for them. Preference is not an option for a freshly decanted dwarf, but suitability could be. The first case allows you to separate the stats from the caste, and build interesting dwarves. The second allows you, if that is what you prefer, to have whole units of STR 18 SIZ 10 Iron dwarves, all the same height with three meter pikes and excellent formation maneuvering. A SIZ 2 STR 10 iron dwarf will not march in a pike and shot regiment, but could be an excellen builder and repairer of war machines, or a sabotage infiltrator, using explosives, acids, poisoned weapons or firearms that do not rely on damage bonus. Or piloting jolanti from a small control room/cockpit. Dwarves are extremely rich in materials, but most clay dwarves are basically worthless before they get close to diamond status. So young dwarves will usually have only the equipment they manufacture themselves. And most of the work of an iron dwarf is ironworking, so it makes sense to make a combat version of your own main tool. Dwarves are immortal, so most of the survivors of the second age are still around. I consider the Decamony is extremely conservative, but the dwarves, specially as it affects their job, are all the time improving, modifying and changing their main tools. So except for young dwarves, I would still favor hammers for veteran iron dwarves, but they will be piston operated, or electrified, or blazing, or all three at the same time. The main problem of introducing iron dwarves as opponents is that a PC victory nets them a huge fortune in iron. So make them work for it, or find a way so they cannot keep it.

Where does a wyrm live? Wherever it wants... I would expect the title is because it is a frequent visitor at the Jelenkev library, but surely its residence is hidden, magically protected and accesible only to flying beings. Thanks to flight, it can be probably anywhere in 2-300 km around Jelenkev, maybe even further away if it visits only a few times per season. It could be the source of magical pen feathers that write what you speak once activated with MP. Quite necessary for a wyrm dabbling in human writings.

I would expect there are many such elevations after the manifestation of a new mask of the Red Emperor, including many of the associates of the departed mask. Unless we have a ritual sacrifice by the Great Sister, when many of those associates will suffer the same fate, to keep the moon free of such failures. That would be one of the desired effects from a well conducted Dart war operation, getting one of the candidates to satrap of Holay appointed as Sacred guardian of the blessed moon fruit, after the current holder suffered an indigestion from eating unholy green tomatoes.

Not that I agree with it, but RQG in my opinion tries to separate heroic combat from soldierly combat. Soldiers all use shields and usually prioritize defense over attack, which is the sensible thing to do. Heroes, as they do in Chinese romances and in Hollywood, use two weapons or huge weapons in order to be better in the attack. That meant that shields had to be less attractive for heroes than the huge axe or the two scimitars, because that is what a hero would use (Earth shield creates an exception for Earth heroes, but they are mythically defensive). At a certain point martial heroes will have monstrous damage rolls, so simple parry will be useless, unless you have Earth shield or the Unbreakable sword or something similar.

The effect for me of IO is twofold. As I said above, if Orlanth is on the side of righteousness, then we can be friends with Charg, and Talastar, and Brolia... And if Rebellus Terminus follows Idovanus, the Yelm hierarchy and the Lunar Empire are on Ganesatarus side, which justifies breaking up with the Empire, making friends with the Storm Pentans, and maybe with the Solar Pentans as well, if it can be justified Kargzant is the sun freed of Ganesatarus influence. It is not the magic, it is the change of paradigm.

I see some future reflections were drawn out of Invisible Orlanth into its own thread while I was busy. I like to have future arcs but little detail, to allow players to be the protagonists. That is one of the reasons why I am not comfortable in Dragon Pass 1603-1627, as it is tightly scripted. Though it is great for PC previous history. There is still, if we trust King of Sartar, quite some years from the clash of kingdoms / Empires of the 1630s to the magical armageddons (and a full LBQ to bring back Sheng is a weapon of mass destruction) of the 1640s. That is also when I expect the floods, the Kralorelan collapse and the monster empire. What comes after the moon either falls or rises higher and turns white will probably be never explained beyond the cryptic details in KoS. At the current rythm I doubt we will get to see beyond Phargentes kicking Argrath's ass so hard he goes the full LBQ route.

Going back to the original questions, another factor to keep in mind is that, similarly to the Brithini Horali, many iron dwarves may have centuries of training but limited practical experience, as there have been few open dwarf armies in the Third Age and even the civil wars were stopped before the end of the Second Age. So yes, a few veterans with experience on the surface still carry out "special forces" (or PC) like missions, but most of the iron armies are either in storage or endlessly training and crafting weapons. That is another reason to simplify if you have not really toushed anything besides a hammer for years. As for Crossbows. dwarves have learnt from the copy of their design to hide their most interesting designs. So most young iron dwarves are allowed only weapons that are not secret. As they get more experienced they are allowed to learn how to make and use more sophisticated weapons. At iron diamonddwarves IMG have powered battle suits, repeating heavy guns with fire elemental ignition systems and nilmerg auto loading, and their main melee weapon is a power fist. As for magic, I mostly agree dwarves dislike magic and mostly use Maker magic, except for individualists, who see the value of each single dwarf and also of themselves, so they have a quite different attitude. As usual, it is all Arkat's fault and why it is a serious heresy. They use less POW intensive magics and are willing to use many resources or techniques to improve their individual survivability. Human style sorcery fits perfectly well. And it is helful with the Dragon Pass focus that both Dwarf Mine and Greatway are the main individualist strongholds. And why I propose all dwarf PCs are individualists.

That is why it looks like Arkati manipulation to me. At the right moment, and with the military and magical power of Lankst behind.

Rockheart Veinseeker is from Greatway, so I would say he is as individualist and openhandist as you can be without being excommunicated, as should any PC dwarf. That indeed extends to the use of human style sorcery, which in my opinion is just the changes the True Mostali did to magic so the poor clay mostali that did not regenerate POW naturally could use some magic with a certain frequency, and later were poached by humans who claimed to have discovered it themselves.

I would limit any earth special chemistry as magic, not a guarantee chemical effect. So Tanien is needed to have burning water, rather than just making thermite. Iron rusts, and IMG it is the only runic metal that does so, by design, as dwarves know how to recover iron from rust, but nobody else does. That way iron is no good for non-dwarves. Until they discovered the magic tempering process. That slows down but does not totally avoid rust, so you must be more careful with iron than other metals. Water is not oxygen and hydrogen that you can separate and maybeuse to breath and create fire. It is just water, and it cannot become air. But with the right magic you can breathe water. In the same way, being supprounded in water will dampen all other elemental runes, except Darkness, its parent. and Earth, its child. So I would not allow ball lightning effects except on the water surface, the air-water interface.

I just found quite a coincidence that both new cults mixing Orlanth and the Invisible God appeared in relatively close geographical areas (specially for flying individuals) in a period of some ten years. And ten year later they both get in conflict with the New Western Hegemon. Of course the Invisible Orlanth is adapted to Carmanian sensibilities by viziers and carmanoi, so it is quite different from the barbarian admiration and Arkati Orlanth revival in Safelster. I really think the Carmanian satraps are sophisticated enough (and I can see a taloned hand there) that by adopting IO the Carmanians can actually have a peaceful interaction with Charg, so more than a weapon against Charg it could be a shield.

The main difference of the Malkioni use of deities and spirits compared to theists is that it is utilitary. They use the local spirits and grain goddesses, but they do not use them as role models, source of inspiration or guides in how to live their life, as they already have a perfect valid and proven system. That is what makes them more "modern", as they do not have a personal relationship with the spirits or gods, they are a resource to control and if possible exploit And that is a general attitude also among the Farmers, not only the Wizards. It is like building a windmill or using a river to transport lumber. That allows them to adapt more easily to new territories, or even displace long settled residents, because their magic allows them to adapt, when a spiritual or theist culture would need to integrate and appease the local spirits, they just dominate the weak and bargain with the strong. They get less out of them, but they also do not suffer mythic requirements in the same way, and the sorcery makes up any shortfall in other magics. That has always been part of the make up of the Malkioni and taken to the extreme by the God Learners. What theists took as Arkat's pragmatism and opportunism is actually part of the Malkioni attitude to treat the other side as a resource to understand and then exploit. Artkat was a conservationist while the God Learners used more of a slash and burn approach...

This will not apply to player characters as they would be outcasts or single scouts on a mission, but IMG Iron dwarves have lots of long duration sorceries on them, some cast by them but most cast by silver dwarves before they leave their tunnels, intended to last for a little more than the expected mission. The more veteran, therefore valuable, the more magic will be used on them. I am sure there is a manual and magic procedure depending on the mission, number of dwarves, and environment that is obsolete but still rigorously adhered (including limiting them to one canteen each in Prax because water is plentiful there, according to the plan), or supplying limited iron quarrels because there are no trolls in the Zola Fel valley... Comparing 3d6 from a season long Boon of Kargan Tor and the effect of a +4 STR from the same intensity of Enhance STR, strength just is not worth it (though many veterans will be enhanced as well), And with 3d6 bonus damage, the intrinsic weapon damage is not so important anymore. Of course casting that requires INT 20 and Enhance INT 5, so right for a silver dwarf but quite excessive for a simpler iron dwarf, specially as I would not allow him the Enhance INT spell (but he could get it from the same Silver dwarf, if it is listed in the procedure... A typical iron dwarf could manage 1d6 for a few days, or 2d6 for an hour or two, always assuming enough MPs, as depending on techniques they may be doubled or even quadrupled. I use lots of nilmergs with the dwarves, both to separate them from the typical fantasy dwarves, and so highlight the narrow abilities of most dwarves. So my typical NPC iron dwarf will have a bullet or quarrel retrieval nilmerg, a time controller (Six watches since the last nutrition ingestion! Time to open a can! 18 watches since the last rest period, time to rest!), a blood removal weapon maintenance expert and a keep armor shiny specialist. That also explains why (with a bunch of gorgers following up if dwarves lose) there are no precious iron remnants after a dwarven skirmish. They just bring it all back.

Actually, I would prefer if Vorthan was a God Learner syncretic creation, but Avlor / Avalor managed to steal control of the cult by showing up with the Red Sword. The God Learners may have used such a warlike cult as easier to control than Humakt and its inflexible rules. Jonat, coming from Seshnela might have been familiar with it, but deliberately limited the worship to the Royal Family, in order to avoid others exploiting it. From the point of view of Havalar, Avlor may have been his companion for ten years before getting caught in the liberation of Seshnela. From Avlor's point of view, Havalar may have been a wise guy that directed him in the right direction and helped him get his righteous vengeance. In his old age, rather than return to Teshnos, he prefers just to end his days in Fronela and bequest the sword and the power to Vorthan's cult. Jonat arrives later and he does not dare disturb the Red Sword, as dire omens exist when it goes out into the world, so it remains resting till the Hero Wars.

In the case of the Kingdom of Seshnela, as presented, the wizards support the Nobles authority and make the armies one of the strongest in Genertela. They also keep the Farmers well fed and tractable. So I consider they are criitical to the society. They also run an inquisition that upholds the status quo. And despite what weird things the God Learners did in the "colonies", the Jrusteli MIddle Seas Empire was clearly Malkioni till the end, and despite what they say, it is the inspiration of the Rokari, with most of the freedoms removed., as those Hrestoli freedoms are blamed for the excesses in the periphery and the Fall. If we take Arkat's Peace Empire and the MIddle Seas Empire, I would say that no theist culture has come close to worldwide control as the Malkioni, which for me indicates it is magically superior, at least as strong if not stronger than any other. The problem with sorcery structured societies is that they need a fairly complex social structure to support the learning and practice of sorcery, and it flourishes with high population, so it is not suitable for wastes or marginal areas, or for small populations.But once you have enough population density and pass the sustainability threshold, the returns from sorcery become huge. At least that is how history has run so far.

This is treading on a future we may never get to see (the 1630s), but it is interesting that the three kingdom Talar will face against probably the independent West Reaches and then Phargentes, in the North, and Safelster arkati and Arkati influenced orlanthi from Lankst, which means both Invisible Orlanth and the Chariot of Lightning at the forefront of the conflict. I like that it takes the spotlight from Argrath and the Red against Blue conflict. The Talar has Mostali and Brithini support, so this can go two ways, either a monotheist reaction against the invisible storm, which means they see the invisible storm as a threat. or the Western forces are actually on a crusade against theists, starting with the nearer ones. A weirder option would be to have the Talar as Gbaji, but it does not resonate as powerfully. Phargentes success and the fact that he manages to return from several deaths (if we trust Ethilrist) would mean his new Lunar way (probably his mother's idea) actually manages to reunify and revitalize the Empire, including Saird, Holay and probably Talastar and Brolia, which brings a lot of storm related peoples. I would expect he reaches some kind of accommodation with the Storm Pentans, so he may have succesfully integrated a non-competing Orlanth-Red Moon structure, as Eff envisioned. Pity it all falls when Sheng eats him.

I also got the impression when reading Genertela, Crucible of the Hero Wars, that indeed it was a kind of fraud. But it fits very well with the Chariot of Lightning and the fact that this one is allied with Lankst and its success shows it is the real deal. Almost all the material from Genertela is repeated in the Guide. The Chariot of Lightning revelations were in 1605, so there is enough time for that idea to reach the Western Reaches, and get mixed up with the local Idovanus / Invisible God theology. However the remaining is mostly Dumb theory territory. I would expect it is popular among the traditional Carmanians, mainly as opposition to the Lunar way, which may be a good reason for the Hierophant of Carmania to be tolerant of the cult, as well as the machinations of Yolanela the taloned countess. It is presented as a deity for Carmanians, rather than Pelorians, who are mostly Lodrilites anyway. That would make it mostly a Hazar (landed) and Romanak (unlanded) soldier cult, as Kaufan intended, but the Invisible moniker could make it also popular among the viziers, as they are the only ones allowed to worship Idovanus / The Invisible God. Carmanoi have always had a strong ancestor worship, so they do not seem good candidates, unless some of them can claim descent from Orlanth. The recent successes of Orlanthi against the Empire in 1622-1630 may have spread the cult even more, and that would culminate in the Western Reaches leaving the Empire at the low point of 1630, pushed by the Invisible Orlanth cult. Subsequently I would expect conflict with the militant expansion of Loskalm, defeat or at least stalemate and a return to the Empire during the succesful campaigns of Emperor Phargentes against Loskalm. I suspect part of the success of Phargentes lies in understanding and making peace with Orlanth and most Orlanthi, which is why Argrath becomes desperate enough to prove he is even more the Orlanthi hero by undertaking the LBQ and bringing back the Moon's worst enemy.

I fully agree that caste magic is still a personal magic, linked to your position in society and how "Right" you fit in it. We still have no indication how it will be implemented, but it should be something the person can do, mediated by their particular caste, sect and righteousness, a consequence of knowing their place in the Universe. Even if mechanically it appears as a spell, it is a characteristic of the person, not something learnt or infused from outside. They still can get magic from outside spirits, if done in the right way, and that can be Right for their caste, but that would be separate, just using spirit entities in the way you would use a river to drive a mill, using the natural laws to get a benefit for you and society. Following up Joerg's musings on the status of women, they could also be a source of sorcery outside the wizards, in those sects that have a separate women caste. It still has a strong dependence on literacy, but we already know western societies are the most literate in Glorantha. Male wizards will not understand, and probably will not want to, what magic and caste benefits are due to the Menena caste. Other sects are egalitarian, although I would expect only the New Hrestoli take that to the logical limits. That could mean a pool of single women (whether cloistered or living among men) that could do things outside the basic four castes, as from what we have seen at least the Rokari associate a woman's caste to her husband. Once married, the women could still keep up whatever strange magics they knew. And one technique is enough to handle all techniques, if you are willing to pay the extra MP cost. That could mean spinters and widows get reputations as witches among the Rokari, and maybe other sects as well. Something I would like to see (as folk magic, or debased sorcery) would be the possibility to use your actual runic affinities to cast sorcery, with no need to actually get a sorcerous runic affinity. So if you fertility is high, even without formal training in the Fertility rune, you could cast fertility sorceries. And if you are strong in Storm, you could cast Call wind even without any formal training except Command. Initially at very low %, but practice makes perfect.

It was a normal cauldron, so unless he got a new one made, it should be bronze. More importantly, it is bronze in my carefully kept Jar Eel assassin T-shirt.

Ethilrist probably was an Arkati illuminate before going to Hell. He became something more in Hell. For me, now he is just looking for a way to break the circle that does not require him to stay in Hell. He would not mind being well known all over Glorantha (therefore his writings) but as I said what he really would like is to become an Ascended Master and a role model for thousands of wannabe heroes. That would justify all the horrors, all the betrayals, all the blood and suffering. After all these years, he is not sure if he really experienced Joy, or he imagined it. I would have him only being happy in a battlefield risking his life, hoping this is really the last time. The bindings of the demon horses and the Hell Hound are only to him, so the moment he finally goes, the Black Horse Troop will be no more.

I really like Ethilrist as a Humanist Hero, refusing to bow to any deity. He started as an Arkati, with good intentions, but after his stay in Hell, and doing what Arkat could not do, getting out by his own effort, he found himself lacking in models, till he picked Hrestol. In my Glorantha he is just trying to experience Joy of the Heart, and ideally be taken bodily into Solace, as he does not really care much about a normal afterlife, or in reincarnation, as he would not remember being Ethilrist. So he is quite willing to run any risks, just by hoping he picks the right side for once and can ascend. Instead he dies time and time again, and he returns from Hell, time and time again. Each time he returns, he also brings back the Hell Hound and any hell mounts that have been killed since he last went down. Depending on how it went, he may even bring some riders, but riders are the expendable part in the Black Horse Troop. I hope he finally succeeds, and becomes an Ascended master, away from the cycle. It probably will take him by surprise.